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Snap! Snap! Crack!!
"Guh—" Is the only thing Robin can sputter as he's sent flying into solid bricks by thick vines. The wall he collides with shatters and rains debris alongside his vomited blood, yet, he laughs. Wet and choked as more blood is drawn out of both his injury and throat.
"Aw man…" Drip, drip, his vision dyes red, "Maybe I should've aimed for the head instead, huh?" The sound of talons scraping along the floor draws closer, and Robin greets it with a widening smile.
"... Robin-sensei." Balam Shichiro, the Gargoyle of the school and close ally of Babyls' Guard Dog says. Like Robin, there is blood dripping down his mouth, as well as red staining his chest he's pressing a hand against. Robin hums in delight at the sight.
"But it's just not as fun, you know? If you shoot the head, they just drop dead. You don't get to see the shock and despair on their face as they're pierced, or watch them stumble about as they slowly die…" Robin doesn't bother to dodge the vines that reach out to ensnare him, knowing it was pointless to even try. Dodging isn't exactly his specialty, and it especially wouldn't be in his current state.
"Why?" It's only one word. One word yet there's so much behind it. Scrutiny, first and foremost, but hidden under the many layers of cool rage, is pained betrayal. The emotions that Balam was oh so carefully trying to keep off his face has Robin giggling in the vines wrapping around his broken ribs.
"I wanted to see it." Robin says, taking in a large gulp of air as he knocks his head back. He feels breathless—not from the suffocating vines, but rather from excitement, "I wanted to see it, your face when my arrow suddenly shoots through you." He swings his legs forward and back, not in struggle, but in giddiness.
"But most of all, I wanted to see Kalego-sensei's face..!" Oh, oh he can just imagine it! And he has! Countless, countless times over ever since first he laid his eyes on him! But that's not enough—imagining it is not enough!
"Kalego-sensei's face after realizing his precious Balam-sensei is dead! Hahaha! I want to see it—I need to see it! But what a shame that I can't! I guess I should've expected that from a Rank 8 Dem—" Robin is cut off with another sputter of blood as Balam suddenly tightens the vines around him. He heaves, heavy and stuttered as he tries and fails to regain his breath, dazedly noticing that he was being lifted up higher into the air.
"Ah…" Robin belatedly realizes what Balam was planning just as he's slammed full force into the ground, head first.
Balam clenches his fist, vines mimicking his action. He uses said fist to swing down at Robin, crushing him, crushing everything that he's known with it.
Lunches and breaks spent with excited chatter.
Slam!
A demon who did not fear his disgusting scar.
Slam!
The one who never shied away from his touches unlike others.
"Ugh—!"
Slam!!!
As if trying to silence him… no, in a desperate attempt to stop Robin from making further pained sounds, Balam punches the demon the hardest he has yet. Robin remains conscious though, bloody and destroyed as he is. Balam can tell from the disgustingly familiar laughter coming from him.
"... Hey hey, Balam-sensei?" Balam pauses at the call of his name, staring down at the traitor with a dark scowl hidden behind his mask. He doesn't reply, but Robin doesn't need him to, because he continues anyway.
"Will you tell me about Kalego-sensei again?"
This time he lunges for Robin himself. What a dirty trick. Saying the words he always said whenever he visited him during breaks. Balam knows it was just to taunt him, to fan the dying flames and get exactly what he craves. He knows this, but he still couldn't stop himself from grabbing the collar of Robin's shirt and yanking it towards himself.
He draws a shaking fist back, ready to swing it right into Robin's bloodied, smiling face he knows will haunt his memories for days to come and… and he drops him. Robin's smile falls. He looks disappointed in him.
Well, so is he.
"... You," He starts, forces, jaw tight, "will be questioned properly by the rest of the staff. Do not struggle and come along quietly."
"Boo." Robin huffs as Balam wills his vines to capture him again. Like last time, he doesn't struggle, though at least he isn't smiling anymore. Balam pulls out his phone to call Demon Border Control, but doesn't make the mistake of turning his back to do so like he did with Atori. He makes sure to keep a careful eye on Robin moreso than his phone, but the demon only stares at the injury he inflicted on him with an unknown expression.
"... I wonder why I didn't shoot more to the left." His mumble is barely audible, but Balam hears it nonetheless. The arrow had just narrowly missed his heart by a few inches. Had Robin chosen to, surely he could've shot him in the heart—or at least close enough for him to not die immediately and only live long enough for him to get the expression he wanted.
So why?
Balam decides to not think about it further.